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Friday, February 7, 2014

Xavier Roberts

Xavier Roberts (born October 31, 1955, Cleveland, Georgia), the manufacturer of Cabbage Patch Kids, is an American artist and businessman. During the American Folk art movement of the late 1970's,
Roberts observed several techniques involving the making of dolls from
various materials, including the dolls of Martha Nelson Thomas of
Louisville, KY. Influenced by the quilts that his mother, Eula, made, he
began experimenting with a quilted doll. After much experimentation,
Roberts created a type of doll
he called "Little People". Roberts and a small group of friends began
to travel from state to state in the southeastern U.S. attending various
folk art exhibitions. At these exhibitions, Roberts began selling these
handcrafted dolls he called "babies". Going into business as Original
Appalachian Artworks, Inc., Roberts started producing Little People in
his hometown of Cleveland, at a converted medical clinic, which he
rechristened "Babyland General Hospital". The Little People evolved by 1982 into Cabbage Patch Kids, which quickly became a major toy fad.
In 1984 alone, 20 million dolls were bought, and by 1999, 95 million
had been sold worldwide. Martha Nelson Thomas, the creator of the
precursor to the Cabbage Patch Kids, filed suit again Roberts in
January, 1980. Mrs. Thomas met Roberts in 1976 at a fair where she was
selling her dolls. He liked what he saw and asked her to supply him some
for sale at a Georgia state park where he then worked. But after some
of her dolls had been sold there, she says, she decided to stop
supplying them because she was concerned he might take the idea away
from her. When Roberts began producing his own dolls, Mrs. Thomas
noticed a resemblance in design. The dolls are very similar, she
says. The marketing technique also resembled hers, says her attorney,
Jack Wheat, of Louisville. 'She also is unhappy with the fact that the
dolls are now being mass-produced. There are too many mass-produced
things. You need something personal, something hand-made, with someone
who will stand behind it, she says.

Xavier Roberts Originals

Roberts would later create a series of country inspired toy bears called The Furskin Bears.